Almost Half Disapprove of Reducing Blood Alcohol Limit

Toronto,
August 23rd – In a random sampling of public opinion taken by The Forum Poll™ amongst
1150 Canadian voters, almost half (BTM2: 49%) disapprove of the proposal to
lower the legal blood alcohol limit from 0.08 to 0.05, with more than a third
(36%) saying they strongly disapprove. Just under four in ten (TOP2: 38%) approve
of the proposal, with a quarter (25%) saying they strongly approve.

One
in ten (10%) said they neither approve nor disapprove, and a small proportion
(4%) said they do not know.

Respondents
most likely to say they disapprove of the proposal include those aged 34 and
younger (55%) and 55-64 (52%), males (55%), earning $20,000-$40,000 (54%),
$60,000-$80,000 (51%), or the most wealthy (52%), living in the prairies
(MB/SK) (61%), supporting the Conservatives (53%), the least educated (52%) and
those with a college/university degree (53%).

Respondents
most likely to say they approve of the proposal include females (40%), earning
$40,000-$60,000 (45%), living in the Atlantic provinces (49%), and those with a
college/university (41%) or a post-graduate degree (39%).

Majority think it
will have at least some effect on reducing accidents

Over half of
respondents (55%) believe that the proposal would reduce accidents by at least
some margin. Of these respondents, 3-in-10 (31%) said that it would reduce
accidents by a small margin, 16% reported moderate margin reduction, while
fewer than one in ten (8%) said it would reduce accidents by a large
margin. Almost a third (31%) said the
proposal will have no effect on accidents. (14%) reported they do not know what
the proposal’s effect would be.

Respondents most
likely to say that the proposal will have no effect on accidents include those
aged 35-44 (39%), males (36%), earning $60,000-80,000 (37%), $60,000-$80,000
(37%), or the most wealthy (35%), living in Quebéc (37%), and supporting the
Conservatives (42%).

Respondents most
likely to say the proposal will reduce accidents by a small margin include
those aged 34 and younger (31%), 45-54 (30%), and 65+ (32%), living in the
Atlantic provinces (37%) or Alberta (36%), and supporting the Liberals (34%),
NDP (32%), or Bloc Quebécois (33%).

“The proposal to lower the legal blood alcohol is unpopular with
almost half, however a similar proportion also thinks that it will
reduce accidents to some degree”said Dr. Lorne Bozinoff, President
of Forum Research.

Lorne Bozinoff,
Ph.D. is the president and founder of Forum Research. He can be reached at
lbozinoff@forumresearch.com or at (416) 960-9603.